This 'Boon' Is Worth A Swoon. Review on Sanjivani

Sanjivani is a face saver right now for Indian serial makers, what with the weepy saas bahu, stone aged serials spattered all over the tele world, the K-word seemingly taking over the F-word. Sanjivani surely is a treat for the eyes, aesthetically and otherwise, though it has received a lot of flak for its glamorous sets. Surely the audience who are fed households of the Good Home Show type won’t digest the reality of drabby, betel spit coated hospital walls. Model looks are in for purely aesthetic reasons and for the above given audience tastes, and surprisingly such looks exist in hospital staff in real life.

The earlier cast is not missed, since the new ones are taking over well, especially Mihir Mishra, who took up the thread from where Gaurav C left off. Dr. Simran’s cattiness, Dr. Rahul’s dilemma, Dr. Juhi’s girl-next-door attitude are endearing, irrespective of who’s playing who. Mohnish Behl as the dignified Dr. Shashank is awe-inspiring and so is his ex-wife Dr. Smriti played by Irawati Harshe. Frankly speaking, it’s the break from those kitschy serials that makes me rave and rant about this one. Though it resembles ‘Chicago Hope’, but it has shades of the path breaking serial of yore on doctors named ’Lifeline-Jeevan Rekha’ with the cast of K.K Raina, Tanvi Azmi, Ila Arun etc.

The serial is worth a dekko for its doctor -patient relationships, sense of duty and above all, a sensitive handling of the life of the people behind the stoic surgical mask. Its occasional slipping into the usual storyline is a minor hiccup in an otherwise hunky-dory state of medical routine, full of life, some knife and some strife.